I was searching through the net when I came across your blog, I read how you dealt with another person, it was quite straight forward and you did not sooth the message to make it go easy. see this is what I want now in my life, I have kept on doing the same sin over and over. this really frustrates me now since I don’t know how to stop. With your wisdom, please help me to understand Christ message better so I can be able to defeat temptations. its really taking a toll on me. How do I stop this persistent sin? Isaac

Hello Isaac, thanks for writing. :) Right up front, you need to realize that more understanding of a how-to nature often only brings more problems. Now, I realize that you may not be asking for that kind of understanding, but I wanted to get it out of the way first. The reason I say this is that Christians have too often been taught to expect results for fulfilling certain criteria, such as learning the principles, following the right formulas and principles. Ironically, many of our problems have only been stirred up by the “Christian” or Scriptural formulas we’ve adopted. Please know that I am not going to offer you the “right” way to defeat sin, for that very thinking helps to promote it. Christ is true life, and the way it works out is sometimes not as we’d like it to be. I’m not suggesting that Christ is in any way powerless to bring real freedom in your life. Quite the contrary, for his life is the only true freedom. Everything else is at best, a band-aid. Consider this prayer as recorded by Paul to the Ephesians:

…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. Ephesians 1:17-21

Do you hear the truth of the power that works in us now? It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the heavenly places. This freedom we have in Christ is not at all likened to the logical approach we’ve learned in the world … not even from the religious world. The persistent sins and habits that still frustrate us after years of trying to defeat them are often bound to our “Christian” perceptions and belief systems. Oh no, you’re not going to find them necessarily described that way, but that is the nature of the deception. I know what it is to have built a protective covering for my own sins within the very teachings that condemned and denounced them on the surface. I suspect that you are struggling with the very same kind of thing. Are you interested to continue with this? If so, please tell me how any of this hits you. I await your reply, Jim Minker :)

Hey Jim! Thanks for your reply. I’d like to continue with this since I now realise that talking about it more often kinda helps, not that all those persistent thoughts that hover in my mind leave its just that I’m capable of controlling them. I wont say I have anyway to deal with this or any strategy I have tried almost every possible way I know to no success. I believe you have worked with many people struggling with the same problem, so I hope you know how to not only help me see freedom but also to know my Lord even more better. Cause I really want to honour Him with both my body and mind, not because I have to but because I want to and I love to. To tell you the truth, I don’t even know what to ask from you. So any advice you have please do not hold it back from me…even if it might seem harsh. I’m willing to learn. Isaac

Hello Isaac, There is fantastic reality, described in Romans 8, that I think we easily overlook:

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– Romans 8:11-12

Much Christian teaching has been built around the premise that we are still under obligation to the flesh. Of course, it doesn’t come across as boldly as I’ve just stated it, but the truth is that many of us have given into the constant demand that as Christians we are merely saved sinners. Basically, this means that we really can’t help it when we give into our sinful natures … except that we should try to fight those tendencies and find victory through Jesus. We falsely imagine that our sincerity and dedication to God can get us over the hump … at least in what we see as the really big areas of sin. Despite all our sincere sounding terminology, what it all boils down to is that we really believe we are obligated to sin. I mean, when you fall back into your own bad habits, are you really shocked … or are you more and more convinced that you’re going to do it again? In other words, you kind of expect it of yourself, don’t you? Jim

Hello Jim. To answer your question, I do expect that what I’ve just done I’m gonna do it again. Sometimes I feel frustrated with these actions, because its starting to feel like I’m doing it deliberately. Which I think I am really. Now I know this might seem to soon to be true but talking with you about this kinda deals with it automatically, Thank you…Jim, for listening. Isaac